Washington Redskins Cheerleaders: All work, (almost) no pay

[misters]

At a Sterling, Va., Gold’s Gym one March afternoon, a few dozen young women have assembled for “Project Cheerleader,” a three-hour seminar that lays the track to the sidelines of FedExField. Inside, cheer director Stephanie Jojokian leads a stable of current and former cheerleaders, makeup artists, hairstylists, and spray-tanners in airing their

Comments

[edgyspice]

Cheerleaders who make the cut are paid $75 per home game performance.

I'm speechless.

[nutmegdealer]

they need a union. yesterday.

[carmy_w]

THIS!

[darth_snarky]

Seriously.

[dzurlady]

Wow, all the extra appearances and photos that the clubs are making money from is quite astounding.

[misters]

that's the part that really disgusts me. i can understand the women being cheerleaders because they enjoy it and want to support their team, but that the teams can make literally hundreds of dollars off a single photo of a cheerleader while that cheerleader gets less than a third of that money for being at that game is absolutely disgusting.

[roseofjuly]

And I'm looking at the website at these women's professions and are baffled why they are taking this bullshit. They are accountants, manpower analysts, pharmaceutical sales reps, retail district managers, legal assistants, business analysts, marking directors, and event planners. Clearly most of them are involved in their community as volunteers, and many of them work with children. They are accomplished young women...and I don't understand why they would want to work for $75 a game when they are shelling out so much money...they're taking a financial hit!

[seasontoseason]

Wow. Shocked. I mean... why is anyone willing to do this for such ridiculously low pay? Does it tend to lead to any other opportunity for these women?

[redstar826]

My guess is that they are hoping that this will be the first step to a career as a dancer or model or something like that. Whether or not it actually works that way, I don't know.

[roseofjuly]

I doubt it, actually. I'm looking at the website and most of them already have established professional careers - and upper-middle-class ones, too. There are marketing and regional sales directors, accountants, and event planners on this list. Also, most of the young women have been dancing all of their lives, and they are in their mid-to-late 20s on average, so I'm sure they know that the majority of them are too old for beginning a dancing career or a modeling career. Even the ones who are still in college seem to be aiming for different careers.

[redstar826]

I wonder if this is the norm for teams with cheerleaders. My local team (Detroit Lions) doesn't have any official cheer leading squad (insert joke here about how no want wants to cheer for the Lions anyways). I think there are a few others teams without cheerleaders as well

[yeats]

according to wikipedia, there are six: da bearrrs, the browns, the giants, the lions, the packers and the steelers. growing up, giants games were a fixture on television; my family has been following the team since the sixties. i never associated cheerleading with the sport, and now i am really grateful for that.

[carmy_w]

Wow-Dallas no longer has their squad?? WTF?

[carmy_w]

Nope; they're still around (the DCC, that is).